Blake Austin has opened up on the turmoil surrounding Leeds Rhinos' disastrous start to last season, admitting that his start at the club nearly forced him to tears.
Austin was part of a recruitment drive tipped to lead the Rhinos to success in 2022, with Aidan Sezer, James Bentley and David Fusitu'a also joining the club. But a disastrous start to the season saw the Rhinos at the bottom of the table and in turmoil.
Speaking on the Trot In The Egg podcast, Austin spoke about the team's early season struggles. "I go there and you want to impress the South Stand, it's a rugby proud city, and you go on and lose your f****** first ten matches.
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"I'm sitting with my manager nearly crying thinking 'what's going on?' Everyone could see the squad we had here and in the end the harder we tried, the worse we got. We were in a pretty dark hole, life gets pretty hard when you're in spots like that."
The early season form saw head coach Richard Agar depart, with Austin suggesting there was some issues between the former coach and members of the playing staff. "We knew it had to turn at some point, it couldn't continue as it was. I'm really thankful for Rich Agar, he's the one who got me into the club.
"I didn't have too many issues with Rich, I think there was some baggage from before I got there with Rich and some of the boys but I didn't have any issues with him. I was as confused as he was about why we weren't going so well, especially with how we performed the year before, they got to within one game of a final.
"It got a bit much for Rich, he was like us, scratching his head and in a hole and he decided it was best to step away. Jonesy had a crack and galvanised the group a little bit. He did what he's good at and brought the boys together, he put some things in place and certainly got us to start turning the corner."
Rohan Smith would eventually be appointed and the Rhinos would reach the Grand Final. "Some of the best business Gary has done for a while was go find a bloke in the Queensland Cup in Rohan," he said. "It's only early but I reckon if I had a guy like Rohan earlier in my career I'd be a much more consistent player over a long period."
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